Home Health & Hospice Week

Accrediting body surveys no longer exempt, starting this fall.

In addition to a raft of new requirements ranging from surveyor training to developing alternative sanctions, the new COVID-19 relief package also will require transparency when it comes to hospice surveys.

All surveyors, whether they are state or accrediting body surveyors, must report the same survey information to the Department of Health and Human Services, says the bill signed into law Dec. 27. “Such information shall include any inspection report made by such survey agency or body with respect to such survey or certification, any enforcement actions taken as a result of such survey or certification, and any other information determined appropriate by the Secretary,” the bill says.

“For [accreditation] surveys conducted on/after 10/2021, form 2567 must be part of information submitted,” points out the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in a message to its members.

Further, “beginning not later than October 1, 2022, the Secretary shall publish the information … on the public website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in a manner that is prominent, easily accessible, readily understandable, and searchable,” the new law specifies.

Note: See the public reporting requirements on p. 1,823 of the bill, via the PDF link at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/133/text